2012-2013 Curriculum Picks!!

After much thought, research, and TONS of praying here are my curriculum picks for the next year. I have everything already except the All About Reading materials and the Sonlight P 4/5 Core....I need to save some more money before I can purchase those. :)

Annabelle's Summer School: I know that sounds really drab, but it isn't as bad as it sounds. We are actually just going to continue with school like normal throughout the summer. We have no reason not to and it helps us stay on track and gives us WAY more leniency through the year (which we will need when our new little one arrives). As it stands we still have 14 weeks left of our current Languange Arts program. After we finish we will go right into the next thing (same goes with all our subjects).

All About Reading Level 1
In conjunction with that we will use All About Spelling Level 1. I am incredibly excited about this resource!!

We will be finishing up our current math by the end of March. We will go directly into Horizons Math K. Love the colorful pages....don't like that it isn't scripted, but we already own it so might as well use it right? I am more confident about teaching her correctly now....but we'll see. I may have to jump to some Saxon 1 lessons to figure out how to explain some concepts to her.


Annabelle's 1st grade curriculum:

Sonlight Core K
We are switching to Sonlight this year and remain undecided on whether or not we will switch back to Winter Promise. For one thing we were given all the Sonlight cores by a good friend and it seems like a waste not to use them. For another thing Sonlight has a phenomenal forum, as well as superb customer service. I am really excited about this core as we will begin to dive into History (I love, love, LOVE history). I am so excited to learn right along with Annabelle. 
Edited to Add: We are also doing some Geography within this curriculum (and adding Asa too).  It will just be some brief additions and arts and crafts as well as cooking.  I didn't want to hit on it too hard because following Sonlight we will be doing World History for the next few years and we will have plenty of time to really dive into it.  I just thought it would be nice to enhance what we are learning and include some learning about the countries/areas we are studying to solidify information. :) 

Language Arts/Grammar/Writing:
I decided to stick with Winter Promise LA 1. I love their hands on aspect and was pleased with their LA K that we've done this year. I will say that when I received this material I was immediately intimidated because I know that Annabelle will in no way be ready for most of this material by the fall. We will probably hold off on most (if not ALL) of it until January 2013 (or even March). It is still a solid program, I just don't want to push Annabelle that hard in something she doesn't like all that well at the moment.
In the interim we will continue with All About Spelling Level 2 after we complete Level 1.
EDITED TO ADD: AAR Level 2 is supposed to be released in September!!  We will be doing that as well as the Ready2Read Level 2 Bundle from the Moffat Girls.  We will also be doing Language Lessons for Little Ones Level 3 .  It will be a fun fit into our day.  For Writing we will be using WriteShop Primary A  (probably won't be starting until January).  We will also be adding in some Journaling.....should be fun!!  :)



We will also continue with Explode the Code 4 & 5 (I know 6 is pictured, but we will do that with the actual Winter Promise LA). Annabelle really enjoys her ETC books now and I think she will continue to like them.





Math....pretty self explanatory. :)  Edited to Add:  We will NOT be using Saxon.  In a last minute decision (seriously do homeschoolers ever stop looking at curriculum??!!) we have decided to switch to Math-U-See.  I am just not confident enough in my own math skills to be able to explain things and teach them to Annabelle on my own.  I am excited about Math-U-See because I think that we are still early enough on in Annabelle's learning career to start at the beginning Primer level and move at a fast pace and finish up the year with in the Alpha level

Science:
Apologia Science Astronomy
I am positively geeked about starting science this year! Annabelle is pretty pumped as well. I have heard/read so many wonderful things about Apologia sciences. Looking through the books after I got them I realized what a gem this curriculum really is.
We also ordered the Lab/Activity kit from Rainbow Resources. I must say that this is an amazingly organized, well put together kit. Everything came labeled/packaged for each lesson. A.MAZ.ING. Customer for life right here!

Art/Music Appreciation:
We are rounding off our studies with a simple program that I think Annabelle will really enjoy. Harmony Fine Arts Grade 1 is what I chose. We will do this program 2 days a week. It will involve picture studies, listening to music, and fun art projects.


Bible: Bible Study Guide For All Ages  We have been doing this through out the summer and it is Annabelle's FAVORITE part of school right now.

Asa Pre-K 4: Now I know that this is going to seem like a lot to some. Please know that I am not pushing this little guy into anything. He begs, and begs, and begs to do school every.single.day.....and not just a few little activities, he wants REAL work.....like worksheets, and reading work. I am following his lead. I know that I am not going to be able to pull anything together for him on my own that will satisfy him. So, after much thought and prayer I decided to just plunge in and buy him a real curriculum. We will go at his pace. If he wants everything 5 days a week I'll give it to him. If he decides he only wants certain things on a particular day (say phonics, but no Sonlight) I will give that to him. However, unless something changes in his personality I foresee doing everything 5 days a week (or 7 days a week lol).

Sonlight P4/5

Saxon Math K.....this really is more of a Pre-K math.
All About Reading Pre-Level 1 This is actually going to be slightly easy for him (he knows all his letters and their sounds), but I feel that he needs to do it before moving onto Level 1. Plus, it will solidify what he already knows about phonics. We will probably start this sometime in the summer. Silas will be doing it with him (not for mastery...just for fun).  Edited to Add: Asa will also be doing Language Lessons for Little Ones Level 1 and then starting into Level 2.  :)

Silas Tot School:
I have worked at putting together 26 weeks of alphabet learning fun.  Each week will be focused on a different letter.  With that letter will be a book....ex: A theme is Apples; The Apple Pie Tree, B theme is Bears and Blueberries; Blueberries for Sal, C theme is Caterpillars; The Very Hungry Caterpillar.....etc.  Most trays will be based around the themes and letters.  Even more amazing....I have it all planned out already!!

Anyway, I'm excited to start our year.  We have been working through some things this summer.  We will be taking a break for the rest of August (as the baby is coming on the 13th!!).  I am hoping to start back in early September.  I think that the kids will be ready for the routine to be back......I will probably be ready for it too. :)  Happy blogging!!
jess_hak

Linking up to the Not Back to School Blog Hop

Kindergarten Happenings

Another week consistently done (YEA!!). We learned a little about Komodo dragons/lizards this week. Our cactus project was sadly destroyed so we will never know if we could've grown our own cactus. We are however planning on buying a cactus plant soon so that we can at least observe and take care of it.

Annabelle worked really hard on this drawing. I think it turned out great. I love his wings the most (the little black things on his back).
We made a Komodo dragon. We used the bubble wrap method (cause it's a technical method lol). Just paint the bubble wrap and stamp it onto what you want painted. It leaves a really cool bumpy looking texture.

This is Asa doing Annabelle's math lesson. Annabelle worked on sorting things by length this week. The constant was an unsharpened pencil everything was either longer than or shorter than it. Almost done with Saxon K (I think I said that last week)....and then we'll move onto Horizons K.
We also talked about dental health. She helped out with a little experiment. To read more about it visit this post.
After we stained the eggs we did our best to brush them clean.
I love this little worksheet because she spelled the bears name all by herself. Ranbo Brit (Rainbow Brite).....apparently Fred isn't an appropriate name for a multi-colored bear (Fred was the worksheet's name for the bear).
Happy blogging!

jess_hak

Linking up to Preschool Corner

These Moments......

I have been down for the count with a cold this week....Wednesday was my low point. I actually had a fever and couldn't taste any food (so very sad!). I had to take a sick day. There was no way my 50lb head (that's how heavy it feels) was going to be able to do anything productive.

Asa had a different thought. This boy must be so school deprived since I haven't been doing as much with him lately while I'm trying to get Annabelle's routine down. I am getting him an actual curriculum next year cause he DESPERATELY wants to do school......every day. all day.

So when I told Asa there wasn't going to be any school today he promptly went to work developing his very own activity. Annabelle and Asa both really enjoyed it.
The object is to put a bead in every spot.....this kept these 2 busy for nearly an hour. They had so much fun and worked hard together.
After they were done playing it as a game they made a beautiful picture together and colored it all in. I really love all the colors.
I also went through a whole box of tissue (and yes, my nose looks like Rudolph's). Annabelle thought it was such a shame that I had no pretty tissues. She made a special one just for me....but not to use, just to look at....so I will always remember the wonderful day that I used an entire box of tissue.
These things made me smile on a day that I thought my head was going to explode. lol Happy blogging!

jess_hak

Tot School: Dental Health

We had fun the past week learning all about teeth and how to take care of them. If you missed the Dentist Trays post you can view it here for more details on what was on the trays.

Flossing. Asa only did this once.....he was more interested in just playing with the play dough. lol
He did great on this sorting activity. He actually figured out all the things that he really likes to eat are not so great for your teeth....especially if you eat them all the time. AND that it is really important to make sure you brush after you eat foods like that.
"It's a circle!"
Matching the circle toothbrush to the kid wearing the circle shirt (cause it's gross to share toothbrushes....).
This was the roll and cover activity. Asa opted for the smaller dice this time because the bigger one was 'too much work'.
Silas mainly had fun covering. He did roll the dice for the fun of it though.
Love these sweet hands.
Working on the art activity.
Silas likes to use LOTS of 'toothpaste'.

We did a really fun experiment from Luv Pre-K. It was to demonstrate how foods can stain our teeth and make them weaker. Also to show how important it is to brush so that foods don't sit in our mouths.

We poured a dark soda over 2 hard boiled eggs, and coffee over 2 hard boiled eggs.
We also poured vinegar over a raw egg. (Ours was a white wine vinegar so that may explain the difference in appearance between ours and Luv Pre-K's blog).
They set in their liquids overnight and this is what they looked like the next day. Soda is on the left, coffee is on the right.
The vinegar soaked egg was squishy and soft....kind of weird. I used this to explain how food and bacteria can weaken our teeth and cause cavities.
After that I set up trays so that they could brush the eggs clean with toothpaste.
They actually came out pretty clean.
Good times with dental health. :) Happy blogging!

jess_hak

Linking up to 1+1+1=1 :)

Dr. Seuss Link Re-Post

We won't be doing any special activities to be celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday this year (at least nothing on the books right now), but it was one of my FAVORITE weeks last year and I wanted to share what we did....just in case anyone was interested! :)

You can view our activities here.

Happy blogging!

jess_hak

Linking up to Preschool Corner, Living Life Intentionally, and 1+1+1=1

Schooling Consistently

I have a confession....it might shock some of you or maybe it's more normal than I think in the homeschool world.... I have a serious problem with schooling consistently (or doing anything consistently for that matter....except garage saling). I started chalking it up to having 3 kids ages 5, 4 (in 2 weeks!), and 2.5 (3 in June). By consistently I mean every single day, at the same time, getting everything done. Anyway, what do all you awesome ladies do to stay on track and focused...especially if you have little ones planning a mutiny while you're trying to get something done with another one. I would LOVE my days to be a little more ordered and routine....more predictable. Maybe I'll get there someday, maybe it's just the phase of life we are at right now, maybe my kids are just little monsters and no one else has this problem....lol :)

We started a new unit this week in Animals and Their Worlds. We have trekked to the desert (a cactus desert to be exact). We didn't do the animal of the week this week because it was a chameleon (and they live in the rainforest so I didn't want Annabelle to be confused). We actually had a lot of fun reading and discussing this week. I finally gave myself permission to let go of the fact that there are just some activities we are not going to be able to accomplish this time around....that it's ok, I'll be able to do them the next time! :) The bad picture above is of some of the animals/plants we'll be taking a closer look at in this unit. Annabelle saw the tarantula and said, "I will NEVER live in a desert!"

We had a good friend move back from New Mexico and she brought the kids cactus seeds. We planted them this week to see if we could actually grow some....
It says the ideal climate would be 75F. Zak won't let me turn up the heat...his logical idea was to wait and plant them until summer. I said that it doesn't fit with our school unit then.... our thinking is so different sometimes! lol
For some reason I took a lot of Math pictures this week. We are moving right along, and we will be done with Saxon K before the end of March. After that we will continue with the Horizons K that I had originally planned on at the beginning of the year. We will do that through out the summer to keep her thinking! :)

This week we worked with buying things with pennies and dimes.
Recognizing/counting/ordering numbers 0-20
AND we played some with our pattern blocks. I really like Saxon's pace. I do believe that K is more of a preschool math level, but I really like that they don't push such high ideals on her age level. I think because of this she looks forward to math everyday instead of fighting it (like her reading at times).
Ready2Read unit 6 word family sorting activity.
In spite of my first paragraph we actually were able to do school pretty consistently this week. The boys were slightly neglected during our school time, but I think if I can get a routine down for Annabelle I will better know what to do with the boys during that time. I am a perfectionist in some areas and this happens to be one of them. I think if I get one routine perfect (or what I would view as perfect...definitely not perfect by many standards) it will be easier for me to add something else into the routine. Just trying to add a little peace and order to our self proclaimed chaos (that I really LOVE for the most part). Happy blogging!

jess_hak

Linking up to Preschool Corner